Season of Purge

It has been a productive week.. and it's only Tuesday!  Amazing how much time you get back when you give up Facebook.  :)  If you've been following along lately, I've been on a quest to get my house totally cleaned and organized.  My goal is to have everything thoroughly cleaned so I can just maintain.  With school starting... probably next week... and my added duties of coaching cheerleading, I am not going to have tons of time to devote to house cleaning.

Most of you know that I've struggled with my children's messes and toys lately.  I believe it was back earlier in the year that I purged all of the baby stuff and a full van load of toys were donated.  It is time to purge again.  I did things a little differently this time.  I had the girls search the entire house for every toy they could find.  We took every toy from the basement playroom, each girls' bedroom, and random toys throughout the house and brought them upstairs to our hallway floor.  We poured out every toy box and container.  It was quite a site!  (There were 2 trash bags of trash & broken toys in there, as well as an entire load of laundry scattered throughout!)  Have a look:

Look, there's a kid in there!  

The picture really doesn't do it justice.  It was really high!  Anyway, I took every container/toy box we had and lined them up.  They got to choose what toys stayed.  (At least until they stopped helping and then Mama made the choice.)  Once the bins were filled, we were done keeping toys!  Before putting any toys back in the rooms, I did a full cleaning of floors, closets, & furniture.  Additionally, the girls have to choose one toy a month to donate.  Hoping we can keep this in check this time!

2 days, 2 trash bags, and 4 donation boxes later....

Getting It Together

I'm trying!  You guys know I am always trying to get myself organized.  My main goal is to get everything together before we start school and then just maintain.  I've made some good changes and I'm happy with the results.  I thought I'd share some of them with you.  If they can work for me, they can work for you!

1.  Do ONE load of laundry EVERY day.  I'm normally completely overwhelmed by laundry.  I'll wait to do it once a week and then have 6 loads or more to do.  I'll end up with 2 loads sitting in a basket for a week or more digging for clean clothes every day.  I never have it all done and it looms over my head.  Now that I'm doing one load a day, I'm always caught up.  I've also removed all the clothes hampers from the bedrooms.  I have a laundry sorter (3 compartments) in the laundry room.  Now everyone sorts their own laundry by throwing it in the proper laundry basket (whites, darks, colors).  Whichever hamper is the most full gets washed that day.  Brilliant, huh?

2.  Centralize cleaning supplies & frequently used household items.  Part of being disorganized is losing everything.  I'm the queen!  And, having 3 floors in our house, I can never keep track of cleaning supplies, tools, etc.  Did I put it back in the bathroom?  Or, did I leave it under the kitchen sink?  Did I take that carpet cleaner to the basement or to the linen closet in the laundry room?  Where did I use the hammer last (I do this way more frequently than you'd think!)?  So, I took one of the lovely Pinterest ideas to work.  I purchased 2 over the door hanging shoe bags.  I didn't spend a fortune, btw.  I had Kohl's cash, it was on sale, and I had a 30% discount!  Anyhoo, I have  one hanging over the door in the laundry one and one in the closet on the main floor.

3.  Prepare snacks for the week.  How many times in a day do I hear, "I'm hungry.  Can I have a snack?"  Admittedly, when it's time to make a lunch, I'm throwing something together - especially on school mornings for Maddie.  Now that cheerleading is here, we need healthy snacks on hand to take with us.  What I'm doing to get this together takes about 30 minutes of prep time right after grocery shopping.  I go ahead and wash up all the fruit and place in individual Ziploc snack bags that they can grab and go.  Each girl also has their own snack drawer with individual bags of things like Cheezits, Goldfish, etc.  Now when they ask if they can have a snack, they get sent to a particular drawer.  (Some drawers are healthier than others.  There's only one "sweet" drawer, so they only get one from it a day.)

4.  Make a cleaning list & schedule.  I made a simple list of what is to be done daily and weekly.  It's not difficult.  There's one major chore a day (like cleaning out the fridge on trash day, stripping the beds on Friday, cleaning windows & mirrors, etc.).  I alternate Thursdays.  It's my "swing day", so there's a bigger chore that changes each Thursday.  I printed out the list, laminated it, and it hangs in my bathroom to remind me when I get up in the morning what needs to be done.

5.  Make it a family affair.  The girls each have their own list that looks just like mine.  It, too, is laminated and hangs on their bedroom door.  They also have a different chore every day and swing day.  Maddie is proud that she's in charge of making sure all hairbows and headbands make it back to their rightful place.  Audrey enjoys wiping down the bathroom sink & counter every day.

So, there you go!  I know it's simple and you've probably heard them all before.  I hope it encourages you if you're struggling as I have.  It can be done!

I *heart* Pinterest

There it is!  I'm just saying.  I LOVE Pinterest.  It has changed my life.  LOL  Seriously!  Now, I do consider myself a fairly creative person.  But, I do have my limitations especially in certain areas.  That's why I LOVE Pinterest!  If I'm looking for something specific I can just go there and look it up.  It is amazing!  However, it is very easy to get caught up in the love of and not the "doing".  For that reason, I am working diligently to fill my new board, "Ideas I've Actually Used" to the brim.

     


http://pinterest.com/kdnorton/ideas-i-ve-actually-used-/

So far I've found a new haircut, organized my classroom, found a few new recipes, organized an entire birthday party, made sweet gifts, and used organizing fabulousness - to name a few.  I'm currently working on a few more.  It is so hard not to want to just sit and "pin", but I am encouraged to do a little less "pinning" and a lot more "doing".

Happy Pinning, friends!  And, feel free to follow me on Pinterest:  http://pinterest.com/kdnorton/

New Classroom

If you know me well, you know that I am CONSTANTLY changing the basement.  It has been a playroom, Derek's office, a playroom, a few things in between, and now a classroom.  I loved our little classroom last year, but it was very small and had no window.  I think Audrey felt a bit claustrophobic.    She didn't want to do school in there at all the second semester.  (Here is a link to last year's classroom.)Couple that with the girls spending way more time playing in their rooms these days instead of the basement.  So, I thought the best thing to do for now was move the classroom into the large room in the basement.  Everything we need is now in here.  Yay!!  And, I only made one purchase.  :)  I still have some decorations to add here and there, but this gives you an idea.

This is a view of the whole room.  I have it divided into different sections:
art table, desk, space for games, and a sofa for reading.

Our new Ikea shelf that now houses all our new Usborne books and curriculum.

Our wall of info - calendars, white board, clock, maps, etc.

Other side with desk & computer; corkboard, etc.

And, when we need to mix it up a bit - we have the hammocks!

Our Week in Pictures

Enjoying some beautiful spring like weather - in February!

Reading with my girls - Maddie wasn't happy because I was cutting her nails.  lol

Maddie making valentines in her preschool party.

Someone got into the make up  & nail polish while mommy was resting.

She said she wanted to "be fancy".  Love her!

Finally found a home for my shoe rack!  It is now part of my scrapbooking nook housing all of my cutters and punches.

Kid's School Work

I like to think of myself as having kicked the pack rat habit.  But, there are some things I just can't part with right now.  One of those battles has been what to do with all of Audrey's work that comes home each Friday afternoon.  Her graded homework, themed coloring sheets, writing practice, math problems, and art projects to name a few.  I can't throw them away!  However, they are piling up higher than I'd like.  I finally found a solution to some of it.  I remembered today that I have a large empty binder and a few boxes of clear page protectors that my mother-in-law passed on to me when she moved.  So, I got everything neatly tucked away in a notebook (with room to spare for the rest of the year) and we can actually go back and flip through to see how she has progressed.

Just thought I'd share!  OH, and if you have any suggestions for all those great art projects that don't fit in a binder... feel free to pass those ideas along.  I haven't quite decided what to do with those.

This was part of the pile.  I usually just stick them in one of the two wire baskets (seen in the pic) hanging on the wall.  I cleaned them out today!  (And, added a basket for Maddie.)

Everything is now neatly organized into the large binders and sheet protectors to view. 

Not every single sheet is visible.  If they had a sticker or smiley face, they are definitely visible.  =)  But, those that were incomplete or similar to others, are tucked neatly behind others.